I hail the decision to establish the Shroff Medical Centre of The B. D. Petit Parsee General Hospital in Bombay which will greatly benefit community members as well as serve other communities ("PGH: Will it go through?” Parsiana, January 21, 2019).
Persons with a negative mindset who are opposed to this project should know that the Parsi General Hospital in Surat, established in 1920, was also a well-known charitable hospital until three or four decades ago. Today this hospital has virtually shut down due to opposition from people who wrongly managed to stop plans made by the Surat Parsi Panchayat (SPP) for its future. Due to lack of facilities and non-availability of proper funds, today the Hospital provides poor treatment. Surat has many Parsi doctors, consulting physicians and surgeons in private practice, but not a single one visits or serves at the Parsi General Hospital, nor is any resident doctor available to provide treatment.
Seth Rustamji Dhunjibhai Tarachand Parsi General Hospital in Surat
There has been no loss to the people who opposed plans for the future of this Hospital in the past, nor to its management. It is the poor, needy old Parsi families who are suffering for lack of proper treatment or care. We should thwart the efforts of such negative people in the community.
I have personally sent a request by email to the Tata Trusts (TT) to reconstruct and reactivate the Surat Parsi General Hospital on the lines of the proposed Shroff Medical Centre project. TT chairman Ratan Tata responded immediately and asked for a detailed proposal to be submitted through the SPP.
I wrote to all the SPP trustees, requesting them to submit a proposal, which they have done. SPP president Jamshed Dotivala and trustee Dr Homi Doodhwala had a meeting with the management team of TT on September 12, 2018. A health service company appointed by TT has, after visiting the Hospital in Surat, submitted a project report for the revival of the Surat Parsi General Hospital and the management of TT are now at the decision making stage.
RAYOMAN SORABJI ILAVIA
Surat
ilavia.r@gmail.com